The present invention relates to a connecting device of for connecting a door stop to a vehicle door hinge, in particular a door stop which comprises a braking and retaining body connected directly or indirectly in a rotationally secure manner to the one hinge half and a holder housing connected in a rotationally secure manner to the other hinge half, and whose braking and retaining body is formed by an engagement body having an outer circumferential contour deviating from the pure circular shape and whose holder housing is formed by a hollow profile section having, for its part, an inner circumferential contour marking at least one braking or retaining position.
A motor-vehicle door hinge which is equipped with a door stop is known in practice, the said hinge being distinguished, on the one hand, by the capability of applying very high braking and retaining forces and, on the other hand, by requiring, by comparison, an extremely small amount of installation space and also by a very small number of components. However, these advantages are offset by the disadvantage that if a door stop of this type is integrated into the hinge, a considerable outlay is required for the precise machining of those regions of the gudgeon which form the holder housing, which machining is required in order to produce braking and retaining ramps, and under some circumstances, at least in the case of hinge halves formed from sections of a continuous hinge profile, the entire hinge half has to be produced from an expensive material, possibly even simultaneously accompanied by less good weldability, resulting in a relatively costly fastening of the hinge to the door assembly parts. Furthermore, the extended design of the one hinge half, required for the accommodation of the holder housing, also results in an undesirable increase in the weight of the hinge as a whole.
The proposal for reducing the high outlay on material and machining required in the case of a design of the door stop integrated in the hinge by designing at least the holder housing of the door stop as an independent component and connecting it as such to the gudgeon of the one hinge half, is known in practice. Although this achieves the advantage of making it possible for the hinge half to be designed more simply and for it to be produced from a less expensive material and with a smaller outlay on machining, and also achieves the advantage of being able to produce the holder housing from a continuous profiled material in a separate production operation, even this embodiment of a vehicle door hinge equipped with a connected door stop still requires a considerable outlay on machining for the mutual, positive engagements required for the rotationally secure fixing of the holder housing to the gudgeon of the one hinge half. This is particularly relevant because even a small amount of play between the mutually and positively engaged regions, on the one hand, of the holder housing and, on the other hand, of the gudgeon lead, during operation of the door stop, to mutual relative movements of the two parts and therefore initially to a shifting of the door-retaining points and subsequently to a deflection of the mutual engagement surfaces and therefore to production of noise.
It is the object of the invention to provide a connecting device, which incurs a low outlay on production for itself, allows the production of the hinge half and holder housing to be made less expensive and, at the same time, for the fitting together of a door stop to the one hinge half of a vehicle door hinge to be simplified.
The object may be achieved according to the present invention in that at least the holder housing of the door stop is connected in a rotationally secure manner to the associated part of the hinge by means of a connecting element which comprises a material which can be deformed elastically to a limited extent under pressure and is equipped on both sides with means for positive engagement with complementarily designed mating forms on the gudgeon, on the one hand, and on the holder housing, on the other hand.
In this connection, suitable materials for realizing the annular connecting element are all those which, on the one hand, can be sufficiently deformed elastically in order to compensate for manufacturing tolerances, which exist under the action of a sufficient pressure during the assembly or fitting of the door stop or holder housing and hinge half, in particular gudgeon, at the mutually facing end sides of both parts, but, on the other hand, at the same time also have sufficient strength for the transmission even of high torques. The use of a connecting element of this type in the fitting of a door stop to the vehicle door hinge makes it possible, as a consequence of its tolerance-compensating action, for the manufacture both of the hinge half and the holder housing to be considerably less expensive because of the omission of costly machining or finishing of mutually interacting surfaces. At the same time, the tolerance-compensating action of the connecting element naturally also simplifies the fitting of the door stop to the hinge half. Thus, while incurring a low outlay on production for itself, a door stop which can be premanufactured as an independent component, at least with regard to its holder housing, and can be connected to a door hinge, enables the production of the hinge half and holder housing to be made less expensive and, at the same time, the fitting of a door stop to the one hinge half of a vehicle door hinge to be simplified.
The connecting element forming a connecting device can generally be used with particular advantage in door stops of the type in which the holder housing can be connected to the corresponding hinge half in a smooth, axial extension of the gudgeon hole of that hinge half in which the hinge pin is mounted with a running fit. In order to fit the hinge half and holder housing, it is necessary that comparatively high torques between the hinge half and holder housing can also be supported, for which purpose, according to a particularly preferred embodiment, it is provided that the connecting element is formed by an annular body which corresponds, with regard to its clear profile cross section, to the clear profile cross section of the gudgeon of the holder housing, depending on which of these two parts has the larger clear diameter, and is equipped in an alternating manner in the axial direction from its one end side to its other end side with at least one groove recess and a projection.
In this connection, in a further advantageous development it can be provided that the free end surface of the gudgeon of the one hinge half is provided with at least one groove-shaped recess, and on its end side facing the gudgeon the annular body forming the connecting element is equipped with at least one complementarily designed axial projection, and that at its end side facing the gudgeon the holder housing has at least one axial projection which is assigned a complementarily designed groove recess in the annular body.
For the reliable transmission or support also of high torques even when a material of lesser load-bearing capacity is used to form the annular connecting element, it is preferably provided according to a further feature of the invention that on its end side facing the holder housing the annular connecting element has two groove-like recesses offset with respect to each other by 180xc2x0, and on its end side facing the gudgeon has two axial projections offset with respect to each other by 180xc2x0.
In the interests of production which is as cost-effective as possible, the annular connecting element is expediently formed by an injection-moulded part made of a plastic material, in which case, besides relatively readily formable metals, plastic materials having sufficient strength are particularly suitable as the material for the annular connecting element.
However, depending on the requirements of the individual application, a simplified design, which can be carried out by stamping, of the positively intermeshing means for the rotationally secure fixing of the holder housing or of the annular connecting element to the gudgeon can be provided, in particular to the effect that the means for mutual, positive engagement, which means are formed alternately, on the one hand, on the lower end surface of the gudgeon and on the upper end surface of the holder housing, and, on the other hand, on the two end sides of the annular connecting element, are in each case formed by a multiplicity of preferably axial recesses or depressions of corrugated form. In particular, the means formed alternately on both parts may be designed in each case in the manner of a toothing arrangement.
In a further refinement of the present invention or in an analogous application of the inventive concept, it can further be provided in particular applications that the engagement part forming the braking and retaining body of the door stop is, for its part, in rotationally secure driving connection with the shank part of the hinge pin by means of a coupling element which consists of a material which can be deformed elastically to a limited extent and is in positive engagement with both parts via alternately formed projections and recesses.